A Near Mint 1975 Olympic White Stratocaster

1975 Fender Stratocaster (Hardtail)

This near mint 1975 Olympic White Stratocaster weighs just 7.20 lbs. and has a solid alder contoured body. One-piece medium-to-thick profile fretted maple neck with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and 21 original medium-jumbo frets and black dot position markers. Large headstock with "Fender" logo in black with gold outline and single patent number "PAT 3,143,028" in black below it. Two "butterfly" string trees, one with a nylon spacer. Individual Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Three-bolt neck plate with large Fender backward "F" and serial number "650681" between the top two screws. Three-ply, white over black ABS plastic pickguard with eleven screws and small foil shield under the controls. Three white ABS plastic-covered Stratocaster flush-pole pickups with outputs of 5.86k, 5.72k, and 5.86k. Three controls (two volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. White ABS plastic ribbed-sided knobs with gold lettering. Original die-cast  combined Fender Stratocaster six-saddle tremolo bridge/tailpiece. The gray-bottom pickups are all stamped in black: "9 1975" (March 1975) and the potentiometers are stamped: "137 7445" & "137 7451" (CTS November & December 1974). This amazingly light guitar is in near mint (9.25+) condition with virtually no fret or fretboard wear and just a few miniscule marks/dings on the edges of the body. A real under the bed time capsule and one of the last of the great Strats. Housed in the original Fender three-latch, rectangular black hardshell case with black leather ends and red plush lining (9.25).

"The Stratocaster was launched during 1954 [and was priced at $249.50, or $229.50 without vibrato]...The new Fender guitar was the first solidbody electric with three pickups [Gibson's electric-acoustic ES-5, introduced five years earlier, had been the overall first], meaning a range of fresh tones, and featured a new-design vibrato unit that provided pitch-bending and shimmering chordal effects. The new vibrato -- erroneously called a 'tremolo' by Fender and many others since -- was troublesome in development. But the result was the first self-contained vibrato unit: an adjustable bridge, a tailpiece, and a vibrato system, all in one. It wasn't a simple mechanism for the time, but a reasonably effective one...Fender's new vibrato had six bridge-pieces, one for each string, adjustable for height and length, which meant that the feel of the strings could be personalized and the guitar made more in tune with itself...The Strat came with a radically sleek, solid body, based on the outline of the 1951 Fender Precision Bass. Some musicians had complained to Fender that the sharp edge of the Telecaster's body was uncomfortable...so the Strat's body was contoured for the player's comfort. Also, it was finished in a yellow-to-black sunburst finish. Even the jack socket mounting was new, recessed in a stylish plate on the body face...the Fender Stratocaster looked like no other guitar around especially the flowing, sensual curves of that beautifully proportioned, timeless body. The Stratocaster's new-style pickguard complemented the lines perfectly, and the overall impression was of a guitar where all the components ideally suited one another. The Fender Stratocaster has since become the most popular, the most copied, the most desired, and very probably the most played solid electric guitar ever" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 18).